by Tom Kowalski
Friday June 27, 2008, 12:04 AM
SHAUN MCDONALD
2008 Scouting Report
While he won't top the career-high 79 catches that he had last season because of the change in offensive philosophy, McDonald is still Detroit's No. 3 receiver and should get a lot of looks on third down.
He had a reputation of a guy who wouldn't catch the ball in traffic over the middle, but he's clearly done away with that perception. McDonald doesn't have great speed, but he has very elusive quickness and led the Lions receivers in acquiring first downs last season.
McDonald has missed all of the off-season workouts after having minor knee surgery but he's expected to be completely healthy for the start of training camp.
While McDonald will be in the slot for almost all of Detroit's three-wide sets, he probably wouldn't replace Roy Williams or Calvin Johnson in the starting lineup if they miss any time. While Mike Furrey doesn't have McDonald's speed, he appears to be a better fit on the outside where he can do a better job of challenging cornerbacks for deep balls.
McDonald's value is on the inside where he does a good job of using his quickness and smarts to get open. McDonald has seen enough defenses to know where the soft zones are and he's good at exploiting them.
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